''(Should [[Beagleboard:Ubuntu On BeagleBone Black]] be merged into this page?)''

−

This page is about running a distribution (ARM [http://wiki.debian.org/ArmEabiPort EABI]) [http://www.ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu] at [[BeagleBoard]]. BeagleBoard will boot the (ARM EABI) Ubuntu distribution from the [[BeagleBoard#MMC.2FSD_boot|SD card]]. Since much of this page is generic, it has also be extended to help support devices such as the [[PandaBoard]] and [[BeagleBone]].

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This page is about running a Linux distribution (ARM [http://wiki.debian.org/ArmEabiPort EABI]) [http://www.ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu] on the [[BeagleBoard]]. BeagleBoard will boot the (ARM EABI) Ubuntu distribution from the [[BeagleBoard#MMC.2FSD_boot|SD card]]. Since much of this page is generic, it has also been extended to help support devices such as the [[PandaBoard]] and [[BeagleBone]].

* For the best experience, make sure you have an LCD/HDMI monitor attached to the BeagleBoard's HDMI port, 2&nbsp;GB/4&nbsp;GB/8&nbsp;GB SD card, and a known good USB&nbsp;2.0 hub with mouse and keyboard.

* For the best experience, make sure you have an LCD/HDMI monitor attached to the BeagleBoard's HDMI port, 2&nbsp;GB/4&nbsp;GB/8&nbsp;GB SD card, and a known good USB&nbsp;2.0 hub with mouse and keyboard.

* These demonstration images contain a custom Mainline based kernel with experimental enhancements to the boards supported. They are usually updated about once a month, as new features/enhancements get added by the community. Currently, this image ships with two kernel's "x" which is for mainline omap3+ devices (BeagleBoard/PandaBoard) and the "psp" which is for specifically the BeagleBone, as much of the kernel support for this device is currently in a TI Git kernel tree on [http://arago-project.org arago-project]. The kernel is stress tested by a farm of Panda/Beagle's running 24/7 under a heavy load (building gcc trunk/mainline kernel).

+

* These demonstration images contain a custom Mainline based kernel with experimental enhancements to the boards supported. They are usually updated about once a month, as new features/enhancements get added by the community. Currently, this image ships with two kernels "armv7" which is for mainline omap3+ devices (BeagleBoard/PandaBoard) and the "bone" which is specifically for the BeagleBone. The kernel is stress-tested by a farm of Panda/Beagles running 24/7 under a heavy load (building gcc trunk/mainline kernel).

* In this example, we can see via mount, '''/dev/sda1''' is the x86 rootfs, therefore '''/dev/sdd''' is the other drive in the system, which is the MMC/SD card that was inserted and should be used by ./setup_sdcard.sh...

* In this example, we can see via mount, '''/dev/sda1''' is the x86 rootfs, therefore '''/dev/sdd''' is the other drive in the system, which is the MMC/SD card that was inserted and should be used by ./setup_sdcard.sh...

−

Install image:

+

Install Image:

−

Quick install script for "board"

+

Quick install script for [board]

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --uboot board

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --uboot board

−

"board" options:

+

[board] options:

−

*BeagleBoard Ax/Bx - beagle_bx

+

*BeagleBone/Black - bone

−

*BeagleBoard Cx/Dx - beagle_cx

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−

*BeagleBoard xM - beagle_xm

+

So for the BeagleBone:

−

*BeagleBone/Black - bone/bone_dtb

+

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --uboot bone

−

*PandaBoard Ax - panda

+

−

*PandaBoard ES - panda_es

+

Quick install script for [board] (using new --dtb option)

+

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --dtb board

+

+

board options:

+

*BeagleBoard Ax/Bx/Cx/Dx - omap3-beagle

+

*BeagleBoard xM - omap3-beagle-xm

So for the BeagleBoard xM:

So for the BeagleBoard xM:

−

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --uboot beagle_xm

+

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --dtb omap3-beagle-xm

−

*Additional Options

+

You should now be able to unmount the SD card from your PC, insert into your Board, reboot and have the OS loaded.

−

** --rootfs <ext4 default>

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−

** --swap_file <swap file size in MB's>

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−

** --addon pico <ti pico projector>

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−

** --svideo-ntsc <use ntsc over dvi for video)

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−

** --svideo-pal <use pal over dvi for video)

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−

+

−

You should now be able to unmount the SD card from you PC, insert into your Board, reboot and have the OS loaded.

This image can be written to a 1Gb (or greater) microSD card, via 'dd' in linux or the win32 image program linked to on CircuitCo's wiki page. First hold down on the boot select button (next to microSD card) and apply

+

This image can be written to a 2GB (or larger) microSD card, via 'dd' on linux or the win32 image program linked to on CircuitCo's wiki page. First press and hold the boot select button (next to the microSD card), then apply power (same procedure as the official CircuitCo images). The board should boot into Ubuntu and begin flashing the eMMC, once completed all 4 LED's should be full ON. Simply remove power, remove the microSD card and Ubuntu will now boot directly from eMMC.

−

power (same procedure as the official CircuitCo images), it should boot into Ubuntu and begin flashing the eMMC, once completed all 4 LED's should be full ON... Simply remove power, remove microSD card and Ubuntu will now boot from eMMC.

This image can be written to a 2GB (or larger) microSD card, via 'dd' on linux or the win32 image program linked to on CircuitCo's wiki page. First press and hold the boot select button (next to microSD card), then apply power (same procedure as the official CircuitCo images). The board should boot into Ubuntu.

* In this example, we can see via mount, '''/dev/sda1''' is the x86 rootfs, therefore '''/dev/mmcblk0''' is the other drive in the system, which is the MMC/SD card that was inserted and should be used by ./mk_mmc.sh...

+

* In this example, we can see via mount, '''/dev/sda1''' is the x86 rootfs, therefore '''/dev/mmcblk0''' is the other drive in the system, which is the MMC/SD card that was inserted and should be used by the ./mk_mmc.sh script.

== SGX Video Acceleration ==

== SGX Video Acceleration ==

−

'''BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black Users: NOTHING, in this section currently applies to your board, we are waiting for 3.8/kms/drm bits from TI.'''

+

'''BeagleBone (BBW) & BeagleBone Black (BBB)'''

−

=== SGX armel/armhf v3.4.x+ ===

+

SGX support will most likely be included with Kernel 3.12 (see TI [http://software-dl.ti.com/dsps/dsps_public_sw/gfxsdk/5_01_00_01/index_FDS.html Graphics SDK release 5.01.00.01]), which is being worked on now (January 2014).

−

* Note: This is a still a work in progress, but so far all the basic sgx demos seem to work on my Beagle xM C... Thanks to TI for the special armhf binaries!!! --[[User:RobertCNelson|RobertCNelson]] 19:48, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

./run-SGX.sh (force run the new init script, or you can just reboot...)

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−

+

−

On successful install:

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Stopping PVR

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Starting PVR

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Starting SGX fixup for ES2.x (or ES3.x) (or ES5.x xM)

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−

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Reboot for good measure (Maverick's Alpha-1 needs this....)

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sudo reboot

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−

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−

==== Beagle: GFX_Linux_SDK.tar.gz ====

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−

+

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tar xf GFX_Linux_SDK.tar.gz

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cd GFX_Linux_SDK

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tar xf OGLES.tar.gz

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−

+

−

==== Test SGX with a DEMO ====

+

−

+

−

cd OGLES/SDKPackage/Binaries/CommonX11/Demos/EvilSkull

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./OGLESEvilSkull

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−

+

−

==== Trouble Shooting ====

+

−

+

−

sudo rm /etc/powervr-esrev

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sudo depmod -a omaplfb

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sudo /etc/init.d/pvr restart

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−

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== DSP ==

+

−

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−

=== gst-dsp ===

+

−

+

−

The following Gstreamer elements will be installed:

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−

+

−

$ gst-inspect | grep dsp

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dvdspu: dvdspu: Sub-picture Overlay

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dsp: dspdummy: DSP dummy element

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dsp: dspvdec: DSP video decoder

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dsp: dspadec: DSP audio decoder

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−

dsp: dsph263enc: DSP video encoder

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dsp: dspmp4venc: DSP MPEG-4 video encoder

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dsp: dspjpegenc: DSP video encoder

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dsp: dsph264enc: DSP video encoder

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dsp: dspvpp: DSP VPP filter

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dsp: dspipp: DSP IPP

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−

+

−

Please note that h264 encoder (dsph264enc) will not work because of missing h264venc_sn.dll64P DSP part. [http://groups.google.com/group/omapdiscuss/msg/76d928726656c5fe According to this message], it is not available due to a licensing restriction.

+

−

+

−

Requirements: Kernel built with: "CONFIG_TIDSPBRIDGE=m", for reference, here is what rcn-ee.net's image/deb's are configured for:

+

−

ubuntu@arm:~$ zcat /proc/config.gz | grep TIDSP

+

−

CONFIG_TIDSPBRIDGE=m

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−

CONFIG_TIDSPBRIDGE_MEMPOOL_SIZE=0x600000

+

−

CONFIG_TIDSPBRIDGE_RECOVERY=y

+

−

# CONFIG_TIDSPBRIDGE_CACHE_LINE_CHECK is not set

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−

# CONFIG_TIDSPBRIDGE_NTFY_PWRERR is not set

+

−

# CONFIG_TIDSPBRIDGE_BACKTRACE is not set

+

−

+

−

On the xM: if 3.2.x is too jerky, try 3.4.x and use the create_dsp_package.sh script, as the module changed..

By default Ubuntu will try to use the FBDEV video driver, however for the BeagleBoard we can take advantage of a more software optimized driver (still not using the sgx video hardware) using the NEON extensions of the Cortex-A8 core.

+

−

+

−

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep FBDEV

+

−

(II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev

+

−

(II) FBDEV(0): using default device

+

−

(II) FBDEV(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section

+

−

(==) FBDEV(0): Depth 16, (==) framebuffer bpp 16

+

−

(==) FBDEV(0): RGB weight 565

+

−

+

−

Login into Ubuntu and open a new terminal, xorg has to be running..

+

−

+

−

xvinfo -display :0.0

+

−

X-Video Extension version 2.2

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−

screen #0

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−

no adaptors present

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−

+

−

=== Drivers ===

+

−

+

−

Note: These are built with neon optimizations: http://git.debian.org/?p=collab-maint/xf86-video-omapfb.git;a=blob;f=debian/rules;h=c2f0d5391c96c5abb60b1e691ad86bb27e0c17d8;hb=HEAD (line 48/49)

(WW) Error opening /sys/devices/platform/omapfb/ctrl/name: No such file or directory

+

−

(II) omapfb(0): VideoRAM: 1800KiB (SDRAM)

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−

(II) omapfb(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section

+

−

(**) omapfb(0): Depth 16, (--) framebuffer bpp 16

+

−

(==) omapfb(0): RGB weight 565

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−

(==) omapfb(0): Default visual is TrueColor

+

−

(--) omapfb(0): Virtual size is 1280x720 (pitch 1280)

+

−

(**) omapfb(0): Built-in mode "current"

+

−

(==) omapfb(0): DPI set to (96, 96)

+

−

(II) omapfb(0): DPMS enabled

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−

(II) omapfb(0): Video plane capabilities:

+

−

(II) omapfb(0): Video plane supports the following image formats:

+

−

(II) omapfb(0): XVideo extension initialized

+

−

+

−

Login into Ubuntu and open a new terminal, xorg has to be running..

+

−

+

−

xvinfo -display :0.0

+

−

X-Video Extension version 2.2

+

−

screen #0

+

−

Adaptor #0: "OMAP XV adaptor"

+

−

number of ports: 1

+

−

port base: 56

+

−

operations supported: PutImage

+

−

supported visuals:

+

−

depth 16, visualID 0x21

+

−

number of attributes: 1

+

−

etc..

+

−

+

−

== Changing DVI output resolution ==

+

−

+

−

Ubuntu 10.10 above defaults to a resolution of 1284x768@16. This is set in the boot.cmd file in the boot partition of the SD card. To change the resolution the DVI output, edit boot.cmd accordingly then recreate the boot.scr file by:

S-video is tested to be working on 2.6.35-rc5-dl9. BeagleBoard s-video output has traditionally been enabled by "using bootargs (boot arguments) at uboot". In newer versions of the BeagleBoard, the developers have made things easier by instructing U-Boot to look for a .scr file about a dozen lines long that is called cmd.boot.scr, and then follow said parameters. In Angstrom, no boot.scr file is needed, instead, an even easier system is used, where a simple editable .txt file called uEnv.txt containing these parameters suffices (Env is for "environment"). For some reason, in the Ubuntu download files, typically there a bit of convoluted process where uEnv.txt is called up, uEnv.txt says "Go read conf.boot.scr", and cmd.boot.scr sets up the s-video.

+

−

+

−

To make cmd.boot.scr, create a text file named cmd.boot, then convert it into a .scr file with mkimage by running the following commands on the terminal:

NTSC resolution is supposed to be 640x480. However the edge bands around the TV screen differ from TV to TV. Output of '''fbset''' shown below:

+

−

+

−

mode "720x482-30"

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# D: 13.500 MHz, H: 15.734 kHz, V: 29.970 Hz

+

−

geometry 720 482 720 482 32

+

−

timings 74074 16 58 6 31 64 6

+

−

rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,0/0

+

−

endmode

+

−

+

−

Depending on your TV device, and what desktop you are running a certain amount of screen cutoff is likely to occur. This is called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan overscan]. Typically, around 5-10% of the left and right edges of display are off the screen (using Ubuntu with xfce). This seems to be due to the fact that there is only one display resolution that is set for NTSC: <!-- I don't know about PAL--> 720 X 482. It is not possible to change this setting in the xfce4 Settings Manager like one would normally be able to do, because other options are greyed out/do not exist. Normally, even if the Settings Manager did not allow for it, a different resolution setting could be obtained by editing the xorg.conf file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf-4, or some similar place. HOWEVER there is no xorg.conf file in the Beagle version of xfce. xrandr shows the display is set to the minimum of 720x574. Adding an xorg.conf does not fix the problem, because Beagle takes its (analog) display resolution settings directly from the display driver, where 720 X 480 (720 X 574 for PAL <!-- This I gather, but I really don't know--> ) is hard coded in.

+

−

+

−

An inelegant but usable workaround for the xfce desktop environment is simply to create vertical and horizontal panels that fill up the space that is cut off on the screen. This is not a complete solution, but at least it will prevent maximized windows from going off into nowhere land.

+

−

+

−

Truly fixing this would involve going into the display driver and reprogramming it to include additional S-video settings besides just NTSC and PAL. Specifically, to make the whole framebuffer fit on the screen you would need to adjust the overlay in the display driver, the OMAP DSS2. (Didn't test this yet. Some pointers from the driver's documentation below)

+

−

+

−

/sys/devices/platform/omapdss/overlay? directory:

+

−

enabled 0=off, 1=on

+

−

input_size width,height (ie. the framebuffer size)

+

−

manager Destination overlay manager name

+

−

name

+

−

output_size width,height

+

−

position x,y

+

−

screen_width width

+

−

global_alpha global alpha 0-255 0=transparent 255=opaque

+

−

+

−

== Building Kernel ==

+

https://github.com/RobertCNelson/stable-kernel

https://github.com/RobertCNelson/stable-kernel

−

Download SRC

+

Download Source:

git clone git://github.com/RobertCNelson/stable-kernel.git

git clone git://github.com/RobertCNelson/stable-kernel.git

−

Build kernel

+

Build the kernel:

./build_kernel.sh

./build_kernel.sh

−

Optional building the deb file

+

Optionally building the *.deb file:

./build_deb.sh

./build_deb.sh

−

= Swapfile =

= Swapfile =

Line 884:

Line 480:

== Using a File for Swap Instead of a Partition ==

== Using a File for Swap Instead of a Partition ==

−

On the Bealgeboard you should expect to need a swap file given the limitation of how much RAM they have (between 256&nbsp;MB and 512&nbsp;MB). Some system programs like apt-get will only run properly when some swap space is present (due to 256&nbsp;MB not being enough RAM).

+

On the Beagleboard you should expect to require a swap file given the limitation of how little RAM is available (between 256&nbsp;MB and 512&nbsp;MB). Some system programs like apt-get will only run properly when some swap space is present (due to 256&nbsp;MB not being enough RAM).

−

Some images such as those from Linaro.org do not come with a swap partition or any swap space allocated.

+

Some images (such as those from Linaro.org) do not come with a swap partition or any swap space allocated.

−

Under Linux swap space can be either a dedicated partition or a single file. Both can be mounted as swap which the OS can access.

+

Under Linux, swap space can be either a dedicated partition or a swap file. Both can be mounted as swap which the OS can access.

=== Creating a Swapfile ===

=== Creating a Swapfile ===

−

The following commands will create a 1 gigabyte file, lock access to only root, format it as swap and then advertise it to the OS.

+

The following commands will create a 1 GB file, limit access only to root, format it as swap and then make it available to the OS:

sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/swap/

sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/swap/

Line 900:

Line 496:

sudo swapon /var/cache/swap/swapfile

sudo swapon /var/cache/swap/swapfile

−

To ask the OS to load this swapfile on each start up, edit the /etc/fstab file to include the following additional line:

+

To tell the OS to load this swapfile on each start up, edit the /etc/fstab file to include the following additional line:

/var/cache/swap/swapfile none swap sw 0 0

/var/cache/swap/swapfile none swap sw 0 0

−

To verify that the swapfile is accessilble as swap to the OS, run "top" of "htop" at a console.

+

To verify that the swapfile is accessilble as swap to the OS, run "top" or "htop" at a console.

= Ubuntu Software =

= Ubuntu Software =

Line 912:

Line 508:

=== /etc/network/interfaces ===

=== /etc/network/interfaces ===

−

It is possible and relatively easy to configure a Wi-Fi card from the command line.

+

It is relatively easy to configure a Wi-Fi card from the command line.

You will need to edit the /etc/network/interfaces file. There are several guides available via Google.

You will need to edit the /etc/network/interfaces file. There are several guides available via Google.

If you intend to use Ubuntu on the BeagleBoard you can install JWM or IceWM to improve performance.

If you intend to use Ubuntu on the BeagleBoard you can install JWM or IceWM to improve performance.

−

JWM in particular uses little RAM. On a BeagleBoard with 256&nbsp;MB, using JWM will leave about 60&nbsp;MB free to run applications in.

+

JWM in particular uses little RAM. On a BeagleBoard with 256&nbsp;MB, using JWM will leave about 60&nbsp;MB free in which to run applications.

== Web Apps ==

== Web Apps ==

=== Midori ===

=== Midori ===

−

Given that the BeagleBoard has fewer resources than a desktop a light-weight browser is more responsive. Midori is a light-weight browser that still supports flash, etc. It is available from the standard repositories.

+

Given that the BeagleBoard has fewer resources than a desktop a lightweight browser is more responsive. Midori is a lightweight browser that still supports flash, etc. It is available from the standard repositories:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midori_%28web_browser%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midori_%28web_browser%29

Line 952:

Line 548:

If you have a video source (webcam, IP cam, etc.) which appears as /dev/video0, etc. then you can use the Linux surveillance software "motion" to monitor the video stream and record periods of activity.

If you have a video source (webcam, IP cam, etc.) which appears as /dev/video0, etc. then you can use the Linux surveillance software "motion" to monitor the video stream and record periods of activity.

Using a 960x720 resolution webcam with a 15&nbsp;fps rate under the UVC driver the Rev C BeagleBoard under Xubuntu reports ~60% CPU utilisation.

Using a 960x720 resolution webcam with a 15&nbsp;fps rate under the UVC driver the Rev C BeagleBoard under Xubuntu reports ~60% CPU utilisation.

−

To make the BeagleBoard automatically start recording on boot do the following:

+

To make the BeagleBoard automatically start recording on boot, do the following:

* Auto Login - run "gdmsetup" from a terminal and select a user to automatically login

* Auto Login - run "gdmsetup" from a terminal and select a user to automatically login

* Sessions - make sure you don't save any previous X Windows sessions so that it doesn't prompt you for which one you want

* Sessions - make sure you don't save any previous X Windows sessions so that it doesn't prompt you for which one you want

−

* motion.conf - amend /etc/motion/motion.conf to the settings you want (that is, video output directory, record only video, record in MPEG-4, set frame rate, etc). Do this with "sudo medit /etc/motion/motion.conf" at a prompt.

+

* motion.conf - edit /etc/motion/motion.conf to use the settings you want (that is, video output directory, record only video, record in MPEG-4, set frame rate, etc). Do this with "sudo medit /etc/motion/motion.conf" at a prompt.

−

* Boot script - create a new script in /etc/rc2.d called "S65motion_client" and set permissions appropriately ("sudo chmod 777 /etc/rc2.d/S65motion_client"). Then edit the file so it has the following text in it:

+

* Boot script - create a new script in /etc/rc2.d called "S65motion_client" and set permissions appropriately ("sudo chmod 777 /etc/rc2.d/S65motion_client"). Then edit the file so it contains the following lines:

#! /bin/sh

#! /bin/sh

Line 968:

Line 564:

This will now launch the motion client as root when you boot up.

This will now launch the motion client as root when you boot up.

−

Also note that unless your BeagleBoard can remember the time (battery backed up clock installed) the timestamps will not be correct until you update the time. If your BeagleBoard has an Internet connection this can be achieved with the ntpdate application.

+

Also note that unless your BeagleBoard can remember the time (battery backed up clock installed), the timestamps will not be correct until you update the time. If your BeagleBoard has an Internet connection this can be achieved using the ntpdate application.

== Robotics ==

== Robotics ==

=== ROS ===

=== ROS ===

−

Willow Garage hosts the open source Robotic Operating System (ROS). Whilst it is natively supported in Ubuntu, the official packages are only for the x86 platform. ROS can be installed from source and is generally easy to do so (although slow).

+

Willow Garage hosts the open source Robotic Operating System (ROS). While it is natively supported in Ubuntu, the official packages are only for the x86 platform. ROS can be installed from source and is generally easy to do so (although slow).

Following the instructions from here will build and install ROS on your BeagleBoard:

Following the instructions from here will build and install ROS on your BeagleBoard:

Revision as of 14:56, 13 February 2014

This page is about running a Linux distribution (ARM EABI) Ubuntu on the BeagleBoard. BeagleBoard will boot the (ARM EABI) Ubuntu distribution from the SD card. Since much of this page is generic, it has also been extended to help support devices such as the PandaBoard and BeagleBone.

For the best experience, make sure you have an LCD/HDMI monitor attached to the BeagleBoard's HDMI port, 2 GB/4 GB/8 GB SD card, and a known good USB 2.0 hub with mouse and keyboard.

Method 1: Download a Complete Pre-Configured Image

Demo Image

These demonstration images contain a custom Mainline based kernel with experimental enhancements to the boards supported. They are usually updated about once a month, as new features/enhancements get added by the community. Currently, this image ships with two kernels "armv7" which is for mainline omap3+ devices (BeagleBoard/PandaBoard) and the "bone" which is specifically for the BeagleBone. The kernel is stress-tested by a farm of Panda/Beagles running 24/7 under a heavy load (building gcc trunk/mainline kernel).

In this example, we can see via mount, /dev/sda1 is the x86 rootfs, therefore /dev/sdd is the other drive in the system, which is the MMC/SD card that was inserted and should be used by ./setup_sdcard.sh...

Install Image:

Quick install script for [board]

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --uboot board

[board] options:

BeagleBone/Black - bone

So for the BeagleBone:

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --uboot bone

Quick install script for [board] (using new --dtb option)

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --dtb board

board options:

BeagleBoard Ax/Bx/Cx/Dx - omap3-beagle

BeagleBoard xM - omap3-beagle-xm

So for the BeagleBoard xM:

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --dtb omap3-beagle-xm

You should now be able to unmount the SD card from your PC, insert into your Board, reboot and have the OS loaded.

Flasher

eMMC: BeagleBone Black

This image can be written to a 2GB (or larger) microSD card, via 'dd' on linux or the win32 image program linked to on CircuitCo's wiki page. First press and hold the boot select button (next to the microSD card), then apply power (same procedure as the official CircuitCo images). The board should boot into Ubuntu and begin flashing the eMMC, once completed all 4 LED's should be full ON. Simply remove power, remove the microSD card and Ubuntu will now boot directly from eMMC.

raw microSD img

BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black

This image can be written to a 2GB (or larger) microSD card, via 'dd' on linux or the win32 image program linked to on CircuitCo's wiki page. First press and hold the boot select button (next to microSD card), then apply power (same procedure as the official CircuitCo images). The board should boot into Ubuntu.

1: Plug-in a serial cable and start the serial terminal program
2: Place MMC card in Beagle
3: Push and hold the user button
4: Plug-in power
5: Wait for U-Boot countdown to finish, then release the user button
6: Wait for flashing/script to end
7: Power down, remove and reformat MMC card to final OS

In this example, we can see via mount, /dev/sda1 is the x86 rootfs, therefore /dev/mmcblk0 is the other drive in the system, which is the MMC/SD card that was inserted and should be used by the ./mk_mmc.sh script.

Swapfile

Using a File for Swap Instead of a Partition

On the Beagleboard you should expect to require a swap file given the limitation of how little RAM is available (between 256 MB and 512 MB). Some system programs like apt-get will only run properly when some swap space is present (due to 256 MB not being enough RAM).

Some images (such as those from Linaro.org) do not come with a swap partition or any swap space allocated.

Under Linux, swap space can be either a dedicated partition or a swap file. Both can be mounted as swap which the OS can access.

Creating a Swapfile

The following commands will create a 1 GB file, limit access only to root, format it as swap and then make it available to the OS:

Lightweight window managers

If you intend to use Ubuntu on the BeagleBoard you can install JWM or IceWM to improve performance.

JWM in particular uses little RAM. On a BeagleBoard with 256 MB, using JWM will leave about 60 MB free in which to run applications.

Web Apps

Midori

Given that the BeagleBoard has fewer resources than a desktop a lightweight browser is more responsive. Midori is a lightweight browser that still supports flash, etc. It is available from the standard repositories:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midori_%28web_browser%29

Surveillance

Motion

If you have a video source (webcam, IP cam, etc.) which appears as /dev/video0, etc. then you can use the Linux surveillance software "motion" to monitor the video stream and record periods of activity.

To make the BeagleBoard automatically start recording on boot, do the following:

Auto Login - run "gdmsetup" from a terminal and select a user to automatically login

Sessions - make sure you don't save any previous X Windows sessions so that it doesn't prompt you for which one you want

motion.conf - edit /etc/motion/motion.conf to use the settings you want (that is, video output directory, record only video, record in MPEG-4, set frame rate, etc). Do this with "sudo medit /etc/motion/motion.conf" at a prompt.

Boot script - create a new script in /etc/rc2.d called "S65motion_client" and set permissions appropriately ("sudo chmod 777 /etc/rc2.d/S65motion_client"). Then edit the file so it contains the following lines:

#! /bin/sh
/usr/bin/motion -c /etc/motion/motion.conf

This will now launch the motion client as root when you boot up.

Also note that unless your BeagleBoard can remember the time (battery backed up clock installed), the timestamps will not be correct until you update the time. If your BeagleBoard has an Internet connection this can be achieved using the ntpdate application.

Robotics

ROS

Willow Garage hosts the open source Robotic Operating System (ROS). While it is natively supported in Ubuntu, the official packages are only for the x86 platform. ROS can be installed from source and is generally easy to do so (although slow).

Following the instructions from here will build and install ROS on your BeagleBoard: